I love this hymn, written by a Quaker teacher in 1906, sung to a traditional English tune called “Kingsfold.”
I feel the winds of God today; today my sail I lift,
Though heavy, oft with drenching spray, and torn with many a rift;
If hope but light the water’s crest, and Christ my bark will use,
I’ll seek the seas at His behest, and brave another cruise.It is the wind of God that dries my vain regretful tears,
Until with braver thoughts shall rise the purer, brighter years;
If cast on shores of selfish ease or pleasure I should be;
Lord, let me feel Thy freshening breeze, and I’ll put back to sea.If ever I forget Thy love and how that love was shown,
Lift high the blood red flag above; it bears Thy Name alone.
Great Pilot of my onward way, Thou wilt not let me drift;
I feel the winds of God today, today my sail I lift.
The choir in my church was to sing an arrangement of this song today, and I could have joined them if I wasn’t with my sweet wife having another little girl. We had prayed for an easy delivery of our fourth daughter, and we received it. Thank the Lord. The next day after we returned home, my wife felt a hardening in her leg with some pain when she drew back her toes–a potential blood clot in the leg most afflicted with varicose veins during pregnancy. We called her midwife and obeyed the summons to the emergency room downtown. A five-hour wait to be admitted to a labor room upstairs for another uncomfortable night on a hospital bed for my good, good wife who only wanted to recoup her strength from carrying and delivering the baby.
But I am able to write you tonight because we have returned home. Thank the Lord. The symptoms in her leg were not a serious blood clot, though maybe asuperficial one treatable with heat and aspirin. We can rest at home without blood thinners and monitoring. The Lord saw us through the drenching spray of a rough sea, and will continue his faithfulness as we raise our daughters I have no doubt. Now, to bed.
Congratulations. God bless and keep you and your wife and all your daughters.
Congratulations, and my prayers for your wife’s continued recovery.
The hymn reads great. I’m not familiar with it, but that’s the kind of hymn-writing I miss in today’s worship world.
Praise the LORD, & Mazel Tov!
CONGRATULATIONS!!
Congratulations!
I wouldn’t have the energy to raise so many kids. Good luck.
Congrats on the birth of your new daughter. And praise the Lord for your wife’s health and recovery.
Congratulations to you and your wife, Phil. You are a very blessed man. Raising children, in my opinion, is the very best time of life. Kids are precious gifts from God. I know you both will enjoy your four daughters. Blessings from an expectant (March 2007) grandmother ~
How did I miss this?
Four girls! Wow!
I wish you both – sleep – and lots of it.
I’m curious as to the name of the hymn.
Oh, you know how hymns go. It’s called, “I feel the winds of God today,” though the arrangement our choir sung had that as a subtitle and “Kingsfold” as the title. As I understand it, “Kingsfold” is the name of the music score. Since it’s a traditional melody, there are many lyrics for it.
Congratulations!
Thanks for the great lyrics to Kingsfold.
I was looking for some that were not for
Christmas. The Advent Carolers of Santa Fe
will be learning this one for the rest of the year,
and O Sing a Song of Bethlehem for Christmas.
Denny
By now they are all able to sing together in harmony. My two boys needed some girls to keep our family chorus going! You are so lucky.
Enjoy, this my favorite Chapel Hymn sung at Laurel School for Girls in Shaker Heights, OH, and now that I have become a Quaker, how great to hear it was a Quaker teacher who initiated it!
Is that “Jessie Parker?” I think some Friends’ publications have her photo. ENJOY and can someone send me the SCORE for this? Am tired of ad libbing it in a poor range for me, in G…. Help? Thanks! Cannot find the score. Kingsfold is its name, the tune, but the sites were closed and the score unavailable in what searches I could do.THANKS! …
s. merrill 956 792 6004.
Ah! My goodness Phil…. I didn’t even know you were pregnant!!! All God’s blessings on you, the Mrs. and the little ones!!